Japanese Airline Promises to Revise Ad After Stereotype Complaints

Japan’s All Nippon Airways plans to revise a television commercial that drew objections over its portrayal of Caucasians.

The airline intended for the ad, titled “The Japanese are changing,” to encourage Japanese to be more international, ANA spokesman Ryosei Nomura said Monday.

“Our intention was not to offend,” he said. The carrier would change it after receiving negative comments and phone calls, he said.

The 30-second ad pokes fun at the reserved image of Japanese as two men discuss plans for more international flights out of Tokyo’s Haneda International Airport. But it ends with one donning a long, pointy nose and blond wig apparently meant to portray a Westerner.